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Jennifer Rubin

Jennifer Rubin '83 with children in the village of Defale,Togo.
"The walls of her house were absolutely lined with greeting cards the kids had
made for her," recalls her Peace Corps director in Togo. "She was a star."

From Hamilton Online Review, Fall 2007

Jennifer Rubin '83 (Togo, 1983-84)

In early 1984, CBS sent a film crew to Togo to interview Peace Corps volunteers and ask them to reflect on the larger meaning of their service. The footage of their time in Defale, a small, rural village, captures Jenny Rubin barefoot, ankle-deep in clay, surrounded by village women. Together, the women pack the moist clay into wide, donut shaped-mounds, sculpting earth-based stoves that will reduce their need for firewood, saving them valuable time and energy. Jenny smiles freely – a big, dimple-laden smile – appearing, somehow, both relaxed and intense about the work she is doing.

"A lot of the volunteers here, myself included," she says on film, "feel that it's very important to have some input, to make an impact somewhere." The camera follows her, listening in as she communicates with the women in both French and Lamba, the local dialect, praising them for packing the clay just so.

"It was very important for her to do something for the women of the country, who bore a great burden," says Jenny's mother, Gail Rubin, when asked what motivated her daughter to take on that particular project. "That's why the stoves appealed to her, because it would ease their burden."

According to Bill Piatt, Jenny's country director in Togo, she was originally assigned to be a school garden volunteer. But early in her training she'd done some research into clay-based, wood-conserving stoves, and requested a job change to make their construction her primary assignment. She'd already spoken with more seasoned volunteers and had even met with local officials, identifying someone in the Ministry of Social Affairs who could train her. Her initiative and organization made a sizable impression on Piatt, particularly given how recently she'd arrived in the country. "She had everything all lined up," he remembers incredulously. "I'm still not sure how she pulled all that off."

Jenny was born in Louisiana in 1961 to parents active in the civil rights movement. Her father Steven is reluctant to ascribe motives to Jenny's decision to join the Peace Corps, but he does acknowledge that her surroundings made her sensitive from an early age to the world's many injustices. "The Peace Corps seemed like a natural thing for her to do," he says. "She was actually thinking of making it a career and applying to be a staff member after her tour was over." Her mother adds, "She really was where she wanted to be."

Piatt says the people of Defale appreciated Jenny's many contributions to village life. "They loved her," he remembers. "The walls of her house were absolutely lined with greeting cards the kids had made for her. She was a star."

She was also a prolific letter writer, an accomplished weaver, a poet and a loyal friend, says Melissa Chesnut-Tangerman '82, who corresponded regularly with Jenny from her own Peace Corps post in Kenya. "She was just so vibrant."

In June 1984, roughly a year after she arrived in Togo, two men from a neighboring village killed Jenny in her home. They had been recruited by a young woman whom Jenny had discovered stealing from her. A senseless, brutal act of violence, and Jenny Rubin was gone.

And yet, even 23 years after her death, her legacy continues to shine bright. Thanks to Chesnut-Tangerman, several classmates and a supportive administration, the Jenny Rubin Memorial Prize Scholarship has been awarded year after year, honoring "a senior woman who has evinced interest in, and ongoing commitment to, helping others improve their lives." Along with a cash gift, the honoree receives a copy of a 10-minute DVD, which includes clips of the original CBS footage. And there's Jenny on screen — barefoot, hands and feet caked with clay, smiling, reflective, content.
"Jenny was the real thing," Chesnut-Tangerman says, trailing off. She and her husband Robin Chesnut-Tangerman '82 named their first child, a daughter, after their mutual friend.

As the CBS footage from Defale draws to a close, the reporter asks Jenny if she ever wonders whether her contribution might just be a drop in the bucket.

"Yes," she nods her head slowly, considering. "Yes. Yeah, I do. But a drop in the bucket is what I can do."

3 Responses to Jennifer Rubin

I knew Jennifer well in high school. I would like to nominate her for the Distinguished Alumni Award at Choate Rosemary Hall, our high school.

Until very recently, the award had never been given posthumously; it was recently bestowed upon another friend of mine who died in Afghanistan. Please contact me if you knew Jenny in college or in the Peace Corp. I will most likely need to gather information from those who worked with her in the Peace Corps and college to get the process started. I wrote her parents a letter after I heard of her death and I told them that in all things beautiful I saw Jenny… I still do and have never forgotten her.

Jennifer Rubin ’83 with children in the village of Defale,Togo. “The walls of her house were absolutely lined with greeting cards the kids had made for her,” recalls her Peace Corps director in Togo. “She was a star.”
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · 3 hours ago near Livermore, CA

Nico Miller wow, thanks michaela for the rush of warmth the memory of having know jen even a little brings back. i havent thought of her for decades now, but the memory of her sweetness feels like yesterday. i can’t help but wonder if her spirit was set free so young to continue her work in some other form, rather than the more trivial pursuits most of us have been caught up in for so many of these years. i can only prey that her loved ones have found some way of keeping jen’s joy alive and escape the suffering of her absence. i can only say, from reading her parent’s words, that there is something to be said for those who pass on doing what they love regardless of their age, rather than dying at their desk in some silly office building from stress or poor health. If anyone is in touch with Melissa/Robin Chesnut-Tangerman-s Jenny Rubin Memorial Prize Scholarship please holler. Perhaps we can get info about the scholarship and even post the footage of jen on this page or a link to it. bless~~ nico

Hi Nico – I love your comment about perhaps Jenny having other work to do being the reason she left us so early. It is what I believe. Please reply to my email and I’d love to tell you more about the Jenny Rubin prize. So glad you wrote!